Nobel Prizes in Medicine

Undocumented claims that American medicine is the best in the world are often made during the ongoing health care debate. Advances in medicine depend on research. One measure of top quality research is award of the Noble Prize in Medicine and Physiology. During the past twenty years thirty American scientists have shared Nobel recognition for their research in medicine or physiology. Whereas, scientists in the United Kingdom and Germany were named winners four times each. This is a strong indication that American medical science is preeminent.

The 2007 Nobel winners will be announce soon, and the odds favor the American research community. Note that many times recognition goes to several scientists who have pursued a common goal. Furthermore, recognition sometimes comes decades after the research is published. Recognition for Watson and Crick's discovery of the molecular structure of DNA came more than ten years after its publication.

The Nobel Prize for Chemistry often has medical application Again, American scientists have been winners, twenty-three in the past twenty years. The overlap between Chemistry and Medicine and Physiology is nowhere more clear than Kary Mullis' 1993 award in Chemistry for invention of the polymerase chain reaction. Mullis' breakthrough has enabled the rapid decoding of the human genome and the genomes of many other organisms.

So, if and when you read the names of American Nobel winners in the city newspapers in the next weeks, remember that it is true that we have the best medicine in the world. The debate continues on how to make the best available to all.


Editor`s Note: The Gainesville Sun reported October 10 that an American scientist is sharing the 2007 Prize in Medicine and Physiology with a British scientist living in the U.S. and a third scientist living in Wales. American MARIO R. CAPECCHI, SIR MARTIN J. EVANS, and OLIVER SMITHIES received the award for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells.

Click for printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend